Life's a Game- Aka, My Metahuman Ability is Total BS
by OriksGaming
Summary: What's a guy to do when he wakes up to a floating blue text box? Well, as evidenced, he should assume he's hallucinating. When the blue box doesn't vanish, he should ignore it. When it vanishes, he should sigh in relief. And when it reappears, he should first change the text box color- then he should start actually playing the game. [Gamer crossover]
1. Tutorial

Life's a Game- Aka, My Metahuman Ability is Total Bullshit

Summary: What's a guy to do when he wakes up to a floating blue text box? Well, as evidenced, he should assume he's hallucinating. When the blue box doesn't vanish, he should ignore it. When it vanishes, he should sigh in relief. And when it reappears, he should first change the text box color- then he should start actually playing the game. [Gamer crossover]

Disclaimer: I don't own DC comics. I sort of own my 'reality game,' but not really, and certainly not legally, since I did borrow certain elements from The Gamer. I do own my main character and any other OC in the story, so there's that.

A/N: Elements of the main character and the main character's family in general are borrowed from me or my family. Not nearly enough to make them overly resemble me or my family, but enough that I considered labeling this story as a '1/2 SI.'

Also, fun fact: this fic was originally intended to actually be a 'reality game,' in which a number of teenagers throughout the world somehow got the gamer ability. A recipe for certain disaster. I abandoned the idea at about three thousand words in and it became this fic. Which is why there are really no mentions of any superheroes or anything paranormal in the first chapter. If you're curious about my reason for abandoning my first idea for this story, say it in your review. If even one person reviews asking about it, I'll cite my reasons in the author's notes of the next chapter.

* * *

"Alex, get up!"

"Wuh moh minuh!"

"Don't one more minute me! Today's a very important day."

It started on a perfectly normal day.

"Last day of school!"

Scratch that; it started on the best day in the world.

"Yes!" I tumbled out of bed, dragging the sheets with me in my haste to get ready. "Summer's here! Summer's here!"

"You still have one last day of school," my mom reminded me, rolling her eyes. She tended to do that when she was annoyed; so did my dad, my younger sister, and my even younger brother. Come to think of it, I did as well. It was pretty much a family trait. Not that it was unique to my family or anything.

"Yeah," I said. "But it's a half day!"

"Oh joy," my mom said drily.

"What's wrong?" I asked in faux concern. "Aww, mom, are you going to miss me? Is a half day too long to be separated from your favorite son?"

"Hell no," my mom said. "The less I see of you the better. And for your information, you're tied for last place in the running for favorite son."

"So mean," I said, pouting as well as I could. Which evidently wasn't very well, judging by my mom's laughter.

"Yes, I'm just so cruel, aren't I?" she said, rolling her eyes again.

"Yeah, the meanest mom in the whole world," I told her with a straight face.

"And don't you forget it! You'd better get moving, by the way. Just because it's a half day doesn't mean it's a late start day as well. Go make yourself some breakfast."

"But, Moooom," I whined, closing my eyes and pretending to sob.

"No buts," my mom said. I could hear her as she began to leave my room. "I need to go wake your brother and sister- I won't have time to make you breakfast, as usual. To be honest, I'd expected you to be used to this months ago when I finally made you work for your food in the mornings for the first time. It saves me a lot of work, you know. And you know how hard it is to wake Rebecca up even when she's had enough sleep."

"Let me guess," I said, opening my eyes. There was a giant blue box floating in front of my face. I blinked once before dismissing it as a figment of my imagination. "She was up all night texting her friends."

"Got it in one," my mom said, and I could practically hear the eye roll as she headed off to wake my sister.

Huh. Why hadn't the hallucination vanished yet? Hang on a minute- were those words?

I tried to move closer to the blue box, but it maintained its distance, and I resigned myself to reading it from a few feet away. Really, it wasn't that I couldn't actually read the words from that distance if I tried- I do have twenty twenty vision. However, I also had sleep dust in my eyes, and I often find it easier to just stick my face right up next to whatever I'm looking at, rather than rubbing away the sleep dust. Yeah, I'm kind of lazy that way.

But in this case, I was forced to actually rub it out- not like that, you perverts- due to the incredibly cruel blue box. I looked again once I'd finished rubbing and my eyes widened. "What the hell?"

 **New Quest: Make Breakfast!**

 **Your mom wants you to make yourself breakfast. Make it fast and make it edible.**

 **Difficulty: ***

 **Reward: 10 exp**

 **Mandatory**

Well, that was new. I mean, I've played a few RPG's before, but never to the point that I'd started having hallucinations about them. I got dressed quickly, if only to disprove the validity of the hallucination.

The box vanished when I was about halfway down the stairs- my room was on the second and highest floor of the house.

I sighed in relief. Apparently it had actually just been a hallucination, for whatever reason.

Of course, that respite didn't last long.

The moment I pulled a bag of Deli turkey out of the fridge, a bar appeared in the top left of my vision. No matter which way I turned my head, I could only see it out of the corner of my eye.

My mind went into overdrive as I made myself a sandwich for breakfast; I don't really like eating breakfast for breakfast- so sue me. 'What the hell did I eat last night?' I wondered. I vaguely recalled just grabbing a cold slice of pizza and some orange juice, since my mom had been busy taking my sister to her violin recital. Had the pizza gone bad?

I flinched as I heard a beep. Another blue box had appeared, in the middle of my vision this time.

 **Skill Unlocked: Meal Making(Passive)**

 **Passively increases speed of meal making by 10% per level.**

 **Meal Making's level has gone up by one!**

 **Quest 'Make Breakfast' Complete!**

 **Level up!**

 **New Quest: Complete Tutorial**

 **You have quite unexpectedly found yourself living life in a game. Find out what you can by completing the tutorial!**

 **Difficulty: ***

 **Reward: 20 exp, 10 points**

 **Y/N**

It seemed that it was asking me to accept or decline the quest this time. I tapped yes with hardly any hesitation. If I truly was living as a video game character, then I needed to find out anything I could.

 **Welcome to the game!**

Suddenly, I was somewhere else. I had no idea where, but it definitely wasn't the kitchen.

Everything was black. And by everything, I mean everything. I suspected for a moment that I'd been permanently blinded but feeling around me dispelled that notion. There was nothing there in all of the black nothingness. I was also pretty sure that there wasn't even a floor to stand on either.

 **You are now in a reality game: similar to a virtual reality game, except for the fact that it is in fact . . . reality.**

 **You can level up skills by completing tasks.**

Suddenly, I could see again. The voice had apparently projected a frozen image of me making myself a sandwich for breakfast, with one small difference. The small bar in the top left of the image was circled in a thick red ink.

 **This is your skill level up bar. It will increase as you complete tasks. When the bar is filled, your skill will level up. When you level up a skill, you will increase in some aspect of skill.**

The picture flashed quickly through a series of images depicting me later and later in the process of making breakfast. Each time, the bar was filled a little more with green, which apparently stood for progress, until finally, the images stopped changing. It had stopped on a picture where the bar was full.

 **You will earn some level exp as you complete tasks as well. Open the Menu by saying 'Open Menu.'**

The picture changed suddenly, and I found myself looking at a number of blue boxes piled on top of each other. They were all labeled in big words, and I could tell this was the menu for idiots edition.

 **Click on the top box to reveal the Status Screen!**

The top box lit up and I realized that like many other game tutorials, this one was somewhat interactive. I rolled my eyes, but I reached out with a now visible finger to press down in midair where the box was. My body had reappeared when the air in front of me started projecting the tutorial so I could tell where my hand was.

As I clicked the box, it stretched in the air as if I was actually pressing down on it and not some projection, although I couldn't feel any actual resistance against my finger.

I drew my finger back, and the moment I 'released' the box, the screen shifted. Suddenly, I was looking at an image that listed my name, apparent title, and stats.

 **Alex Young(Player) Level 2(5/25)**

 **HP: 288(250)/288(250)**

 **MP: 180/180**

 **STR: 10**

 **VIT: 15**

 **DEX: 15**

 **INT: 9**

 **WIS: 8**

 **LUK: 10**

 **Points: 5**

 **Money: $10**

Well, that didn't seem too bad. Decent stats for the most part, although I'd probably need to see about improving my WIS and INT, which I assumed stood for wisdom and intelligence respectively.

The air faded into black again, and I could only see new words on a single blue box.

 **Strength: This stat determines the base force behind your physical attacks.**

 **Vitality: This stat determines your survivability and base health recovery speed. Each five points increased will yield a one level increase of the Survivability skill, and each single point increase will yield ten more base hp. Each ten levels adds another percentage of health recovery every ten seconds.**

 **Dexterity: This stat determines the base speed and coordination of your movements.**

 **Intelligence: This stat determines your intelligence, as well as your base magical attack value. It also determines your base mp recovery. Each ten levels increased adds another percent of mp recovery every ten seconds.**

 **Wisdom: This stat determines your decision making abilities, as well as your mana point capacity. Each level will yield an increase of ten maximum mana points.**

 **Luck: This stat determines your luck. It could mean everything or it could mean nothing; putting points in is a risk. The question is: Are you feeling lucky?**

And wasn't that ominous? The menu screen reappeared, although this time, the next box down was glowing. I rolled my eyes again, before reaching out to tap it with a finger.

 **This is your inventory. It can be accessed through other means, although this is the only place that will list out its contents.**

I could see slots for all my clothes, as well as some slots that were still empty. Weapons, armor, and magical items, I assumed.

The screen shifted back to the menu, and the third box down was glowing this time. I pressed it and it revealed . . . something.

 **This is your skills page. Here, you can see the descriptions, levels, and effects of each of your skills.**

Huh. That could be really handy. I made sure to look at the individual skills.

 **Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max**

 **You are now the ultimate gamer, and as such, you are now also the picture of physical perfection . . . Just kidding! It allows you to live life like a game.**

 **Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max**

 **Grants immunity to psychological status effects; allows the user to think things through logically. Extreme emotions are dampened.**

 **Survivability (Passive) LV3**

 **Grants 15% extra hp and 3% damage reduction.**

 **Meal Making (Passive) LV2**

 **Grants increased skill in making meals. Meal making speed increased by 10% per level.**

 **Current speed increase: 10%**

As soon as I finished skimming through my first four skills, the screen returned to showing the menu. As I'd expected, the fourth box down was now highlighted. I didn't even bother rolling my eyes this time as I reached to tap it.

What I hadn't expected, however, was for it to beep and flash red.

 **Locked**

I looked closer, and instead of a title, ? was shown. So I'd have to figure that out along the way, I guessed.

Everything got back on track when the fifth, and bottom, box started glowing. I made sure to read the title this time. 'Options'. I tapped it and this time, I wasn't blocked. I hadn't expected to be, seeing as the Options box actually had a title, but I was coming to expect being surprised when it came to this 'Reality Game.'

 **Here, you can adjust your options to fit your preference.**

 **Sound: 50/100**

 **Music: 0/100**

 **Text Box Color: Blue**

 **Text Speed: Medium**

Well, it didn't look like there was going to be any way of quitting the game. I wasn't really sure how to feel about that. Whatever. I decided to deal with it later.

The screen changed again, this time back to my status screen. A second later, once I'd skimmed over it again, it was gone, and I was just looking at another text box.

 **Each time you level up, you will receive five Stat Points. You will also receive some for completing certain quests. These points can be distributed amongst your stats, in order to bolster those you deem most important.**

Suddenly, everything was normal. Well, except for the blue text box still floating in front of me. By normal, I mean that I was back in the kitchen, and a quick glance at my clock showed that no time had passed.

 **Quest 'Complete Tutorial' Complete!**

 **Level up!**

Well, supposedly, I now had Stat Points to spend. Had to get that out of the way sooner or later, so I chose to do it sooner. "Open Menu," I said out loud. It opened, and I clicked the top box.

 **Alex Young(Player) Level 3(0/62)**

 **HP: 288(250)/288(250)**

 **MP: 180/180**

 **STR: 10**

 **VIT: 15**

 **DEX: 15**

 **INT: 9**

 **WIS: 8**

 **LUK: 10**

 **Points: 20**

Ok, so there were certain ways that I could spend my points, few of them necessarily bad. But as long as I was acting under the assumption that I was alone in this 'reality game,' the best option would probably be to balance my stats out as much as possible. I'd played enough RPGs to know that you could generally choose a focus and depend on others to cover your weaknesses for you in multiplayer, or just use your strengths to power through. However, if I was playing solo, balancing my stats would probably be the safest.

So I put six points into INT, seven points into WIS, five points into VIT, and two points into STR. I'd seen no indication that this 'game' offered extra lives, and so I'd decided that it was better to be safe than sorry, and made VIT my highest stat.

My new stats came out looking like this:

 **Alex Young(Player) Level 3(0/62)**

 **HP: 360(300)/360(300)**

 **MP: 250/250**

 **STR: 12**

 **VIT: 20**

 **DEX: 15**

 **INT: 15**

 **WIS: 15**

 **LUK: 10**

 **Points: 0**

I checked the clock and realized that I only had about twenty minutes left before I had to leave for school. It would have been less time, but my mom always got me up early; even before I developed this weird hallucination thing, I'd never been a morning person, and I've always tended to stall in the morning.

Huh. I decided that I'd probably done all that I could do with the ability for now, and headed to the table, before pausing. And by pausing, I mean stopping any movement; as far as I could tell, this game didn't have a pause button. Which would have been kind of cheap, because it would have been pretty much an automatic overpowered time stop ability.

I opened up the options and glanced at the text box color one. I hesitantly reached out to tap it with a finger and smiled when the simple act of tapping it changed it. It appeared that I'd just need to scroll through its list of colors to find what I was looking for. Green, red, purple, yellow, orange . . . aha! Black. Don't ask me why, but I've always preferred black text boxes with white letters. Just a habit of mine in RPGs, if they offer the option of changing the color of the text boxes.

I decided to leave the text speed at medium, seeing as there was really no reason to change the setting to fast. I generally did that in games when I got bored of all of the dialogue and wanted to skip to the action. So far, almost all of the dialogue had been helpful and medium seemed to be the optimal speed, at least for now.

This time, when I headed to the table I couldn't think of anything else, and so I sat down to eat my sandwich. I'd only been eating for two minutes when my little sister showed up at the table. I'd always been kind of close with Rebecca, possibly because we were born only a year apart. I wasn't quite as close with my brother, Kevin, because there was a three year age difference. I idly noted the letters floating above her head.

 **Rebecca Young(Rumormonger) LV2**

It was kind of the most awkward age difference to have between yourself and a sibling; well, anything from a two to four year difference would probably be just as awkward.

He hadn't ever been exactly on my mental level, being three years younger, but we were close enough in age that I hadn't exactly been cognizant of his baby years. So I'd never really gotten attached to him when he was young and cute, and I'd never connected with him as an equal.

Oh, sure, Kevin and I got along sometimes. But more often than not, we just tended to avoid each other. As usual, even Rebecca and I ignored each other during breakfast; neither of us was usually very awake in the mornings and it was just easier not to talk, whether we got along or not. Today was an exception for me, due to the . . . gamer skill. I couldn't decide if it was good or bad that I seemed to be the only one with the skill. Of course, the rest of my family could just be good at hiding it, but I doubted it. There was also the 'player' title next to my name to consider. Not player one or something like that; just player. Of course, it could be calling me sexually active, but as much as I hate to admit it, that's just not true.

I left the table just as my brother showed up. He was still in middle school, although he'd be graduating today. I was a little annoyed by the fact that he had a late start today, by almost an hour, but there was also the fact that he'd pretty much be staying at school until seven or eight pm, so they kind of canceled each other out. I did take notice of the words above his head, though.

 **Kevin Young(Athlete) LV5**

Huh. That was weird. So apparently age didn't decide level. Not that it really would have made sense, considering the fact that Rebecca is sixteen and only level two.

"Alex, Rebecca!" my mom yelled from the other end of the house. "Finish eating and get ready for school!"

 **New Quest: Get Ready For School**

 **Your mom wants you to get ready for school. Get ready for your last day of school within fifteen minutes!**

 **Difficulty: ***

 **Time Limit: 15 minutes**

 **Reward: 30 exp**

 **Mandatory**

I glanced mournfully at the third of my sandwich that I hadn't had time to finish eating. When there was hardly anything left, I generally just stuffed the rest of my breakfast into my mouth in one big bite. However, My mouth wasn't quite wide enough for a third of a sandwich. Well, my mouth was probably wide enough, but I didn't think I'd be able to finish chewing it without spitting it out. When I eat too much in one bite, usually with chewy kinds of meats, it usually loses all flavor long before I've chewed it enough to swallow.

I ended up throwing it out, despite wanting to finish it, and got ready for school. I'd already gotten dressed and eaten breakfast. After that, I brushed my teeth and brought my dirty clothes to the hamper- I tended to leave my clothes from the day before just lying around till morning. Mom didn't like my habit but she'd long since accepted it. I stuffed my laptop in my backpack, made sure I had my phone and headphones, and went out to wait by the car.

 **Quest 'Get Ready For School' Complete!**

Okay, so apparently I hadn't leveled up. That made sense though, since if I was remembering correctly, I needed sixty two experience to reach level four and I'd only received thirty from the quest. My mom and sister came out to the car and we left for school. I was a junior and Rebecca was a Sophomore at the same high school, so my mom just dropped us off together. I'd tried biking to school freshmen year but I'd quickly decided that getting up super early wasn't my thing. At least if I was driven to school, I could wake up a little later.

We were silent for the twenty minute drive to school. My mom really focuses when she's driving- in other words, she drives scared, which isn't always a good thing. My sister, as I mentioned before, isn't a morning person. And me? I was pondering the revelation of this morning. Or, well, not revelation, exactly. Okay. I was pondering the fact that my life had suddenly turned into a game for no apparent reason.

"Be good, you two," my mom said as we got out of the car.

I glanced briefly at the letters floating over her head. They hadn't appeared before and I'd wondered why for a moment. But I'd figured it out. Apparently, they would only appear if I specifically and deliberately focused on the person. I'd tried focusing on Mom and the letters had appeared. I hadn't looked at them, instead looking away and looking back. They'd disappeared by the time I turned to look at her again. But now I took the opportunity to read her name and title.

 **Angela Young(Editor) LV7**

"I will," I said, waving goodbye to her.

"Of course," Rebecca said dismissively, turning away. It wasn't that she was being mean or even intending to be cold. She was just engrossed in whatever game she'd started playing on her phone and couldn't muster the effort to placate our mom.

Mom drove off and I headed to my first period. School didn't start for another ten minutes but I didn't really have anything better to do. Not anything that I could do at school in ten minutes, anyways.

* * *

Current stats:

 **Alex Young(Player) Level 3(30/62)**

 **HP: 360(300)/360(300)**

 **MP: 250/250**

 **STR: 12**

 **VIT: 20**

 **DEX: 15**

 **INT: 15**

 **WIS: 15**

 **LUK: 10**

 **Points: 0**


	2. Hero-ing step 1: Save Civilians

Summary: What's a guy to do when he wakes up to a floating blue text box? Well, as evidenced, he should assume he's hallucinating. When the blue box doesn't vanish, he should ignore it. When it vanishes, he should sigh in relief. And when it reappears, he should first change the text box color- then he should start actually playing the game. [Gamer crossover]

Disclaimer: I don't own DC comics. I sort of own my 'reality game,' but not really, and certainly not legally, since I did borrow certain elements from The Gamer.

A/N: So, someone did ask, and I'll hold up my end of the bargain. The reason I gave up on the idea of my reality game was simply because it would have been a huge undertaking. Any gamer fic is, really, but I would have been writing a gamer fic that wasn't technically fanfiction but that I also couldn't get published due to copyright violations. Sure, I write for myself sometimes, but not when it's bound to be around three hundred thousand words. At least in this form, I can post it as a DC fanfiction.

Alex's conversation with Eric might feel a little lacking, but I was simply trying to show a mundane conversation between friends. Far too many stories only involve the character's supposed best friend when they're useful. They call someone the main character's best friend and then just treat them as if they're a distant acquaintance.

* * *

When I got to my first period class, or at least the hallway outside of it, I found Eric waiting for me. Eric's my best friend- has been since fourth grade- and we have three classes together: first, fourth, and sixth. So basically Algebra II Honors, American Lit, and Stagecraft. He was leaning against the wall next to the classroom door, face buried in a book.

 **Eric Hamden(Programmer) LV3**

That title was pretty apt. To be blunt, he's not really unique at all aside from his crazy skill and fevered interest in computer programming.

He tends to just wear pretty plain shirts and shorts. I'd wager that he puts about as much effort into his clothes as I do mine . . . not much at all. He has dirty blonde hair and pale white skin. Not so pale that he could be mistaken for a vampire but pale enough for anyone to know that he's never played an outdoor sport in his life. He was five foot six, two inches shorter than me.

"Hey," I said, raising my hand in greeting.

"Hey," he said, not looking up from his book.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked.

"Same as yesterday," he said.

"Refresh my memory," I said, leaning up against the wall next to him so that I could look down at the book.

"Is it that bad?"

"My memory?" I rolled my eyes at the half-hearted insult.

"Yeah."

"No. No it's not. But I don't necessarily pay attention when I ask you that question. It's more of an icebreaker." I shrugged, even though he still hadn't looked up.

"A bad one," he said.

"That may be," I said. "But at least it kickstarted the conversation."

"Oh joy," he said drily.

Okay, so you should have an idea of my best friend's character by now. He's really apathetic about a lot of stuff. But when he's interested in something, he'll focus on it like there's nothing else in the world. Computer programming, for example. He loves that. He could probably have skipped a few grades in math but he's too lazy to put in the effort. Reading as well. I mean, I like reading probably way more than the average person, but my interest can't in any way compare to Eric's.

"So what _are_ you reading anyways?" I asked.

"Harry Potter," he said.

"Again?" I asked semi incredulously. "Dude, you're obsessed with that series."

"It's a good series," he said, shrugging one shoulder.

"Are you serious?" I asked, truly incredulous this time. "It's so full of plot holes!"

"Yes, evil Dumbledore and all that," he said, irritation creeping into his tone. He's not big on fan theories about any of his favorite stories, and he only accepts things that came straight from the author as authentic.

"No, not that," I said. "That's a stupid theory. But still! There are tons of plot holes."

"Hmph," he said, and that was that.

We had that conversation pretty often. Neither of us really cared about winning the argument, although he evidently cared about the actual subject of the argument at least a bit. After all, we'd started it in sixth grade; it was more a routine than anything else at this point.

The bell finally rang, signaling that it was five minutes before first period. A little under thirty seconds later, the door opened.

"Come on in," Ms. Tacker said. She's a nice person, but to be blunt, she sucks as a teacher. Truly, it's a miracle that I even got as high as a B in the class. I know for a fact that nearly a third of the class flunked out.

Ms. Tacker's brown hair was always up in a bun, which made her look younger than her age of twenty five somehow. I didn't really question it- mostly because I didn't care. School is a chore, not an amusement park; I don't really care about taking in the sights or revealing the magical mysteries of school. Sorry to all of you workaholics out there.

I gave her a brief smile as I moved past her to enter the room. Just because I hated her as a teacher didn't mean I couldn't stomach her as a person or that I wouldn't treat her as one.

I sat down in my seat, putting my head down on the desk. I listened as everyone arrived, paying half of my attention to that and half of my attention to the blessing or curse- I hadn't decided yet- of my new job as a video game character. Seriously, I just couldn't get it out of my head. Which made sense, considering that every time I muttered 'Open Menu,' a visible menu materialized in front of me, assuming I had my eyes open. It would even show up in the darkness of the area in between my arms.

Once the second bell rang, Ms. Tacker entered the room, closing the door behind her. She walked up to the front of the classroom.

"Well," she said, clasping her hands together in front of her. "It's the last day of school. I'm sure you're all excited. I'll be brief. We're done with all of the work for the year and today's only twenty five minutes anyways. I doubt any of you would be productive today if I _did_ assign work. So you can go on your phones and laptops for today. Free time!"

And so we did; no sane high schooler was going to turn down legitimate free time. Luckily, that was pretty much the way it went down in all of my other classes. It made sense, though. Grades were locked and there was literally no reason for anyone to do any classwork on the last day of school.

Honestly, absolutely nothing interesting happened at all. We got out when expected, at twelve fifteen. I pitied people who had a seventh period- of course, I always pity them, last day of school or not. I pray for the poor sods who have a zero or a seventh- not literally. I'm not religious. But if I was, I probably would literally pray for them.

"School's out!" I said, feeling a lot lighter.

"Not for me," Eric said, frowning. "You know I've got a seventh. See you next year, Alex."

"See you," I said.

He walked away and I started towards the parking lot. My phone rang when I was halfway there.

"Hello?" I said.

"Alex?" Mom asked.

"Yeah?" I said. "What's up?"

"Apparently, I've got to make a salad for your brother's graduation."

"Who eats salad?" I asked incredulously.

"Certainly no kids that I know," Mom said drily, and I could easily imagine her rolling her eyes on the other end of the call. "But I apparently need to make it all the same."

"So why do I need to know this?" I asked.

"You'll need to walk home," she said. "I'm sorry about this Alex. It was really last minute and I would have told you earlier if I'd know."

 **New Quest: Walk Home**

 **Your mother has been unexpectedly roped into making a salad for your younger brother's post-graduation celebration event. Walk home and save her time and a lot of stress.**

 **Difficulty: ***

 **Reward: 100 exp**

 **Y/N**

I tapped the Yes option quickly before responding.

"Nah," I said. "It's fine, mom. I'll walk. Not sure how Rebecca's gonna take it, though."

"Speaking of Rebecca," Mom said. "Can you tell her about this?" I began walking towards the parking lot again.

 **New Quest: Tell Rebecca**

 **Your mother barely has enough time to call you. Be a nice, caring son and tell your sister what your mom just told you.**

 **Difficulty: ***

 **Reward: 100 exp**

 **Y/N**

I tapped Yes on this one too.

"Will do, Mom," I said.

"Thank you," she said. "Bye, Alex."

"Bye, Mom." The call ended and I stuffed my phone in my pocket again. I'd reached the parking lot by then and I sat down to wait for Rebecca. She usually stayed behind talking to her friends after school for about twenty minutes every day, so I had some time before she arrived. I'd have played a game or listened to music to pass the time but I'd been using my phone and laptop all day; subsequently, they were both at around ten percent power.

The back lot cleared pretty quickly. One reason was simply that it was the back parking lot. Most people parked at the front or picked up their kids at the front, since the back one was seriously small. And there was also the fact that no one in their right mind stayed around talking after the last day of school. They went to a friend's house and partied their hearts out or they went home and did some non-exhausting activity. Because after the last day of school, even if it's a half day, people always feel super lethargic. I know that I do at least.

As I was saying, the back parking lot was empty within ten minutes. At the time, I thought it was a good thing. Peace and quiet. Three minutes later, I knew it was a bad thing.

"Please stop!"

"Hands in the air!"

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," I muttered in disbelief, climbing to my feet. Seriously, I'd never been witness to a mugging in my life. Thus, I was one hundred percent sure that it was the game's fault.

"Help! Somebody help!" The girl shouting looked about my age if not a little younger. The guy looked like he was anywhere from twenty five to forty. I'm not that great at figuring out specific ages. I focused on the mugger momentarily.

 **Damien(Thief) LV15**

Sure enough, it was the game's fault.

 **New Quest: Damsel in Distress**

 **A girl is being mugged! Save her without becoming a murderer, or, you know, dying.**

 **Difficulty: *****

 **Time Limit: 1 minute, 30 seconds**

 **Reward: 100 exp**

 **Y/N**

The game had seriously made something like this happen and then made the subsequent quest optional? Really? I tapped the yes option and took off running towards the mugging. Seconds later, I was beating myself up mentally over my decision. It probably would have been much better if I'd been more careful in my approach. Even though the mugging was only taking place about twenty feet away, that still left plenty of time for the mugger to hear me running, and then turn around and see me.

His eyes widened and he raised the gun. I ran as quickly as I could. To be honest, I expected that the game wouldn't let me come to any harm in any early quest as long as I put effort in. I actually expected that I'd manage to reach the guy before he could shoot and kick the gun out of his hand or something. No such luck.

Bang! The guy shot, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, and my vision turned red. No, really. I don't mean I got super angry or something, although I was kind of pissed. I mean that my vision started flashing red, like many games do when your character's health is low. I couldn't check my health at that moment, but I assumed that it was extremely low. Luckily, I reached the guy before he could take another shot, and for lack of any other ideas, punched him in the head. I'd expected him to get back up or something. To take the hit and then beat me up. But he just crumpled. I stared at my fist in shock. I quickly kicked the gun away from the man, in case he was faking. But apparently he wasn't.

 **Skill Unlocked: Fighting(Passive)**

 **You're in it to win it. The higher level Fighting is, the higher your ability in a fight is.**

 **Fighting's level has gone up by one!**

 **Skill Unlocked: Survival Instinct(Passive)**

 **You only have one life! Damage is doubled when hp is below ten percent.**

 **Skill Unlocked: Hero(Passive)**

 **When saving someone else, all stats increase by twenty five percent. Also known as 'adrenaline.'**

 **Quest 'Damsel in Distress' Complete!**

 **Level up!**

So that explained the one hit KO. My strength had been increased to two hundred and twenty five percent. So it had been at twenty seven. Assuming that ten was the strength of an average kid who didn't work out aside from pushups and sit ups daily, I'd probably punched as hard as or harder than a grown man- and I'd punched the guy in the head. That was a little frightening. Luckily, it looked like the man was still breathing.

I almost snorted when I saw the adrenaline comment. From everything 'the game' had said so far, it appeared that whoever or whatever had created it or was running it had a pretty dry sense of humor.

I frowned down at the man. I really hoped that I hadn't caused any lasting harm. Even though the guy had shot me, killing or permanently harming anyone still didn't sit right with me. I was drawn out of my thoughts by the girl I'd saved.

"Thank you so much!" she said quickly. "I was so scared! I thought I was gonna die!"

"Uh, you're welcome," I said. What was I supposed to say to a nearly hysterical girl- probably a freshman- whose life I'd just saved. "Do you think we should 911?" I said it more because I needed something to say than because I really thought it was super important. Which it actually was. According to the law and apparently also according to the game.

 **New Quest: Call the Police**

 **You've just knocked out a criminal! Call the police and give them your location and situation.**

 **Difficulty: ***

 **Reward: 100 exp**

 **Y/N**

I clicked on the yes, disguising it as a wave of my hand for the sake of the girl in front of me. She probably wouldn't have noticed it or thought much of it in her state, but I didn't want to take the chance.

"Yeah," she said. "But I forgot my phone at home today. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," I said, waving off her concern. "I can call." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw that it had decreased to nine percent while sleeping. I quickly dialed the number and held the phone up to my ear.

"911, what's your emergency?" a woman asked. That was something I'd hoped to never have to hear. Alas, it was not to be. This morning had apparently marked the start of a new life that would directly contrast my old mundane one.

"I stopped a mugging," I said. "The guy's out cold."

"What's your location?" she asked. I wondered how many calls they got that were like mine. I mean, I know that average people don't just 'stop' muggings every day. Or, well, at least I'm pretty sure. But she seemed as calm as ever after I told her. It was probably some kind of police receptionist training, geared towards making sure that the people on the other end of the line in emergencies don't freak out.

"The back parking lot of John F. Kennedy High School," I said. There's only one JFK school in the county, so despite the fact that there are tons throughout California, I felt pretty safe in not specifying the city.

"Will you be needing medical assistance?" the woman asked.

"I don't think so," I said. "The mugger might have a concussion though."

"Please stay where you are. An officer should be at your location in under ten minutes."

"Thank you," I said. The call ended and I stuffed my phone in my pocket again.

 **Quest 'Call the Police' Complete!**

 **Level up!**

"We have to wait ten minutes for an officer to get here," I told the girl. She'd stopped crying and was now drying her eyes on her sleeve. She nodded to let me know she'd heard.

"Excuse me?" she said timidly. "What's your name?"

"My name's Alex," I said. "And you are?"

"Gabrielle," she said a little more confidently.

"Well, Gabrielle," I started, before being interrupted.

"Oh my god!" That was Rebecca, from about ten feet behind me. "Alex? What did you do!?"

"I didn't do anything!" I protested.

"If anyone asks," she continued, "except mom, we're not related. I don't know you. Never seen you before in my life!"

"Rebecca," I said, groaning. "Shut up, please. I stopped a mugging. I didn't commit a crime!"

She looked at Gabrielle. "Is he telling the truth?" Gabrielle nodded. Rebecca gave an exaggerated gasp. "Oh, thank god. I'm too young to be related to a felon."

"Thanks a lot for your concern," I deadpanned.

"No problem," she said, evidently choosing to ignore the sarcasm.

"Except mom?" I chose to ask. "Not dad?"

"Nope," she said nonchalantly. "He's not home enough. Might not even know he has a daughter."

I winced. Thing about our dad is, he goes to work early and leaves late. He's absolutely in love with his job as a senior engineer in a small time company, for some reason. Sadly, his long hours aren't really conducive to spending time with family and Rebecca has always justifiably resented him for that. He's not necessarily a bad person- he's just a workaholic. Having him as an example, it's no wonder, really, that I'm not a fan of work in general. Or, you know, it could just be the fact that I'm a teenager. The only real upside to his working so many hours is that our family is pretty well off. Well off enough that we can take a month long summer vacation and stay in a fancy hotel wherever we're vacationing every year.

"Wait a second," Rebecca said. "Where's Mom?"

"She has to make a salad for Kev's graduation," I said. "It's a last minute thing, apparently. So we've got to walk home."

 **Quest 'Tell Rebecca' Complete!**

"Ugh," she said, groaning. "That sucks."

"We've got to wait for now, though," I said. "For the police, you know."

"I know, Alex," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not an idiot."

"Speaking of the police, are you okay?" she asked, turning towards Gabrielle.

"Yes," the girl said, appearing almost completely recovered from her ordeal. Or as recovered as she was going to be right after. "I'm fine, thanks to Alex."

"That's good," Rebecca said. "I'm glad to see you're alright . . . what's your name?"

"Gabrielle," she said.

"Nice to meet you, Gabrielle," Rebecca said. "My name's Rebecca."

"My baby sister," I added.

"And Alex is my idiot brother," she said, glaring at me for the comment. "This may be the first time in his life that he's ever done anything right."

"Shut up," I said. "You know that's not true! Besides, have you ever stopped a mugging?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms. "And you shouldn't have either! It was probably super reckless! _Was_ it super reckless?" She turned towards Gabrielle.

"Well," she said, hesitantly. "I suppose it was somewhat reckless, though I didn't really see how he approached. But I do know that Alex got shot at." She gave me an apologetic look. Apparently, she was one of those super honest types, but it looked like she at least felt bad for betraying me, so I was willing to let it slide.

"You got shot at!?" Rebecca yelled.

"Volume control, Becky," I said, wincing.

"Don't call me Becky!"

"Fine, fine," I said. "Just stop shouting."

"Alright," she said. "But you can't really blame me. I mean, you . . . got . . . shot . . . at." She enunciated each syllable as if she thought I just wasn't understanding the situation.

"I'm fine," I said. I was now, at least. A quick glance at my hp bar showed that it was already up to about four fifths of its maximum. "It didn't even graze me."

"Really?" Rebecca asked skeptically. "You're not just trying to be all macho, are you?"

"Since when have I ever cared about that?" I asked reasonably.

"You're a boy," she said, as if that explained everything. It didn't.

"I'm not bleeding," I said reasonably. Just so you know, I was definitely the only reasonable one in our conversation.

She grabbed my shirt and gave it a long glance. "I guess you're not lying."

I managed to contain my shock, but I was inwardly freaking out about the fact that she hadn't seen the hole that had to be there. I glanced down at the shirt and was shocked to see that it actually hadn't been damaged. It must have been another effect of the video game, because I'd definitely felt the bullet hit.

"I told you," I said. "It didn't hit!"

"Fine, fine," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "I believe you."

"Finally," I muttered.

"Still," she said. "Even if you did do a good deed in the end and got out of it without injury, you should have called the police first and given them a description of the man."

"Are you saying I shouldn't have helped Gabrielle? She was getting mugged! And you know I'm horrible at giving descriptions. Furthermore, the guy was facing away. What was I gonna do? Describe the back of his head?"

"I see the police," Rebecca said. "We'll continue this conversation later- don't think we won't! And I'm telling Mom!"

"Really?" I gave her a blank look. I thought we'd gotten over tattling on each other when we were about seven. Apparently, I was wrong.

"She'd find out even if I didn't," she said.

"No she wouldn't," I denied reflexively.

"Yes, she would," Rebecca said, rolling her eyes. "Now, head up straight, shoulders forward-"

I interrupted her. "Wait- are you giving me a pep talk?"

"No," she said, rolling her eyes again. "I just don't want you embarrassing me or Mom."

"Now, head up straight, shoulders forward," I mocked in a high pitched voice. "Yeah, sounded like a pep talk to me."

"Shut up."

* * *

A/N: The mugging might be a little cliché. But just think of it as his first step towards becoming a hero- developing the ability to randomly stumble upon petty crimes in broad daylight.

Current stats:

 **Alex Young(Player) Level 5(156/170)**

 **HP: 360(300)/360(300)**

 **MP: 250/250**

 **STR: 12**

 **VIT: 20**

 **DEX: 15**

 **INT: 15**

 **WIS: 15**

 **LUK: 10**

 **Points: 10**


End file.
